Many people save vegetable and flower seed from one year to the next. It may be that they just bought too much seed or it may be they are growing a certain variety that’s hard to find and would like to collect seed to sue for next year’s garden.
But how does a gardener know if those seeds are still viable and will actually come up if planted?
A simple germination test will tell you if leftover seed is viable. Roll 10 or 20 seeds up in a damp paper towel. Keep them moist and in a warm location. Putting the towel in a re-closable plastic bag will help hold moisture.
For most crops, viable seeds will germinate in about a week. If half the seeds germinate and you have enough left to plant twice as many as you normally do, you will likely get an adequate stand. If less than 50 percent germinate, you need to order more seed.
Some possible reasons for poor germination of seeds include:
- The seed is old and no longer has enough stored food.
- Damping off (soil borne disease that attacks young seedlings at the soil line) can be avoided with sterile soilless, growing media and care to avoid over watering.
- Poor contact of seed to soil. Tamp seed with planting board
- Too much or too little moisture
- Not meeting light or temperature requirements for the particular seed.
Remember only seed from open-pollinated varieties will produce seed that remain true to the type of mother plant. Hybrid plants are the result of cross-pollinating two different parent plants that have a desirable genetic characteristic. Hybrids are the first generation offspring of that cross. Saving seed produced from a hybrid plant results in a plant that reverses back to possible characteristics of any of the parent plants involved in creating the hybrid. In most cases, these plants are not only unlike the hybrid but also inferior in quality.
